Biden to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by September

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will announce Wednesday that the U.S. will fully withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11 of this year, a symbolic deadline marking the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, senior administration officials said Tuesday.

The troop drawdown will begin before May 1, the deadline for complete withdraw as outlined in a deal the Trump administration reached with the Taliban, a senior administration official said. The U.S. says there are roughly 2,500 troops currently serving in Afghanistan.

Biden’s decision comes after a three-month Afghanistan policy review. The senior administration official said the review determined that any national security threat from Afghanistan is “at level that we can address it without a persistent military footprint in the country and without being at war with the Taliban.”

“That withdrawal may be completed well in advance of Sept. 11,” the official said. Any remaining U.S. troops in Afghanistan would be a number the administration, in consultation with allies, determines is required to protect American diplomats in the country, the official said.

March 25, 202101:44

The official said they shared the president’s decision with NATO allies this week. The official said the administration is committed to helping maintain the rights that women have achieved since the war in Afghanistan began in 2001, but it’s unclear how the U.S. will ensure that.

The decision was first reported by The Washington Post.

The U.S. will maintain military assets in the region to counter terrorism threats and hold the Taliban to its commitments, including that it would sever ties with al Qaeda. The senior administration official, briefing reporters on Biden’s decision, said any attack by the Taliban on U.S. or allied forces as the drawdown is in progress will “met with a forceful response.”

Under the deal with the Taliban that was signed last year, the U.S. promised to pull all troops out by May 1 in return for the Taliban’s agreement to enter into peace talks with its adversaries in the Afghan government and a commitment to ensure that Afghanistan is not used as a staging ground for terrorist attacks on the U.S. or its allies. The Taliban has said if the U.S. fails to abide by that agreement, the group is under no obligation to uphold its end of the deal.